The amount of event parking revenue you are making can be improved when you integrate tiered parking passes into the ticket purchase process. Here how to do it...
Not Everyone Can Do What LeBron James Did
NBA superstar LeBron James made headlines the other day when he was given a police escort to a concert. The Jay Z concert had traffic backed-up for over a mile, but James was allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road because the lanes were being cleared by two motorcycle police officers. Once at the venue, James pulled right up to the VIP entrance and a valet parked James' car in the preferred parking - while everyone else was still stuck in traffic or looking for a place to park.
Of course the privileged position LeBron James enjoys is not available to your ticket buying customer. But the mild controversy does bring attention to the matter of event parking, specifically, event parking being part of your business revenue. You may already have paid parking at your venue, but in these challenging economic times, is that revenue stream performing as well as it could?
Don't Leave Event Parking Revenue To Chance
Adam Parry recently wrote of the perils of event traffic in Event Industry News, using the 2012 Summer Olympics as the use case. Parry writes a harrowing tale of worse case scenarios and recommends some very smart solutions for venue owners and event managers to consider.
Whether you’re organizing a small country show or a major music festival, an efficient traffic management system is essential to ensure the smooth flow of traffic to and from the event, maximizing visitor satisfaction and minimizing the impact on non-event traffic. Indeed, many events are located in rural areas, via B-road access, where a good traffic management system is especially important.
The overall experience of any event includes how smoothly getting to and from the venue goes, as subjectively perceived by the ticket buyer. And it is this subjective perception that influences whether or not your customer is a one-time ticket buyer, or becomes lucrative repeat ticket buyer. Being made to park miles away, then walking to the venue on foot, influences the overall experience.
Fortunately, the same solution that makes a better experience for the patron is also a way to increase revenue for the venue owner; preferred paid parking offered during the ticket purchase process.
If you routinely charge for parking at your venue, but don't include that service as part of the ticketing process, you risk antagonizing your customer when they are faced with a less than optimal experience trying to find a place to park. By offering guaranteed parking ahead of time you also get a chance to divide the available parking into tiers - at ascending prices matched to the amount of convenience provided.
Many large sport stadiums present paid parking spaces as a deeply integrated aspect of buying game tickets, and most include tiered pricing as seen on an interactive chart. The same technology that creates a venue seating chart, can be used to created a tiered parking purchase. In fact, the same demographic that is willing to pay for premium seating is also highly likely to pay for premium parking privileges.
Rather than let your current paid parking policy of "first come, first served" lead to disappointed customers - who may be tweeting to their 20,000 friends about your event's overall experience - you can do what the big sports stadiums do and sell parking passes along with tickets. When there are tiers of seating that is an excellent template for tiers of parking, even using the same naming conventions as the seating areas (General Admission, Preferred, and VIP) .
Summary: When the choice is properly presented during the ticket purchase process, many of your customers will also buy parking passes. That represents additional revenue a "first come, first served" paid parking policy cannot provide.
ThunderTix Event Ticketing Software
One of the most popular features ThunderTix offers is an interactive reserved seating chart. The ThunderTix reserved seating chart feature enables you to price seats by section, performance dates and times, and serves as a guard against double-sold seats. Our seating charts also serve the needs of your customers during the purchase process helping them visualize where they will be seated in relation to the stage.
As an option, you can also have a chart for your parking, including tiered pricing - just like the big sports stadiums!
Be sure to take a look at our other features and sign up for a free trial today!
Image source: Flickr